Apple News 3d Briefing
×Last updated: March 13, 2026, 4:34 PM ET
Apple's 50th Anniversary & Major Product Launches
Apple kicked off its 50th anniversary macrumors.com with a surprise Alicia Keys concert at its mysteriously shuttered Grand Central Terminal store in New York, a promotional event tied to its "50 Years of Thinking Different" campaign. The celebrations coincide with the launch day arrival macrumors.com of seven new products announced the prior week, most notably the MacBook Neo 9to5mac.com and iPhone 17e. The MacBook Neo, positioned as a disruptive $599 entry-level laptop, is now available in all colors at Apple Stores, though online shipping delays have emerged appleinsider.com. Its launch triggered an unusual surge in Mac trade-ins macrumors.com at Apple, as customers upgraded to the new models.
The MacBook Neo: Disruption, Compromises, and Repairability
The MacBook Neo's $599 starting price has been labeled a shock to the PC industry macrumors.com by ASUS executives, while MKBHD called it Apple’s most disruptive product in over a decade 9to5mac.com. However, this affordability comes with clear trade-offs. A teardown revealed a glue-less battery and modular ports macrumors.com, highlighting its repair-friendly design, but performance testing showed its SSD speeds are up to 8× slower macrumors.com than the latest MacBook Pro. Apple also confirmed the battery has a maximum cycle count of 1,000 9to5mac.com, and while Parallels confirmed Windows VM compatibility macrumors.com, performance will vary. The device proves Apple can run mac OS on an iPhone-class processor, suggesting future convergence possibilities appleinsider.com.
iPhone 17e and Mid-Cycle iPad Air Update
Joining the Neo is the iPhone 17e appleinsider.com, a new budget model T-Mobile is offering with no trade-in required. A hands-on review suggests Apple has finally nailed the entry-level iPhone 9to5mac.com, though a buyer's guide compares it directly to the lingering iPhone 16 macrumors.com. Alongside these, Apple launched an M4-powered iPad Air macrumors.com, with launch discounts arriving immediately macrumors.com. For prospective iPad buyers, Apple has published a new buying guide 9to5mac.com to navigate its increasingly complex lineup.
Software Updates: iOS 26.4, Security, and New Features
Apple released iOS 26.4 and mac OS 26.4 soon after the hardware launch. The iOS update adds three new customization options 9to5mac.com and four features users are adopting daily 9to5mac.com, while mac OS 26.4 brings four new features to Macs 9to5mac.com. Crucially, Apple issued rare updates for older devices—iOS 15.8.7. 7.15 and their iPad OS equivalents—to patch the Coruna exploit appleinsider.com, a security vulnerability actively traded on the black market. The iOS 26 Passwords app also gained a new recovery feature 9to5mac.com to prevent lockouts.
Deals, Discounts, and New Streaming Plans
The product launches were accompanied by significant discounts. Amazon is offering up to $320 off the 15-inch M4 MacBook Air appleinsider.com, slashing it to $1,079, and the MacBook Neo is available for $569 9to5mac.com from some retailers. Air Pods 4 with ANC hit a new low of $119.99 macrumors.com on Amazon, and the Apple Studio Display XDR is $100 off 9to5mac.com. In streaming, Amazon announced Prime Video Ultra 9to5mac.com, a new ad-free tier replacing the old one at a higher price point, while Apple TV premiered a new true crime series, Twisted Yoga 9to5mac.com, and a star-packed comedy, Margo’s Got Money Troubles 9to5mac.com, to positive reviews. Friday Night Baseball returns to Apple TV on March 27 macrumors.com.
Foldable iPhone Rumors Intensify
Rumors about Apple's foldable iPhone, sometimes called the iPhone Fold or iPhone Ultra, accelerated. A new leak suggests it will come in three storage options macrumors.com, and Samsung will supply its 12GB of RAM macrumors.com with shipments starting Q2. Another report claims Samsung Display will soon begin production ramp for the foldable screen appleinsider.com, while a separate leaker guessed the device will be branded iPhone Ultra appleinsider.com. The chatter follows reports that Apple is considering India for more iPhone production appleinsider.com to diversify away from China.
Developer News, Security, and AI
In developer news, Apple cut App Store fees in China macrumors.com from 30% to 25% starting March 15. Adobe agreed to a $150 million settlement 9to5mac.com with the DOJ over difficult subscription cancellations, including a $75 million penalty. On the AI front, Anthropic’s Claude gained the ability to create interactive visuals macrumors.com within chats, though it experienced a brief outage macrumors.com. Perplexity launched a Personal Computer feature appleinsider.com that lets its AI agents access files on a local Mac mini. Meta reported removing 159 million scam ads 9to5mac.com and taking down 10.9 million scam accounts across Facebook and Instagram.
Other Notable Hardware and Software News
Apple published official repair manuals 9to5mac.com for the iPhone 17e, new Mac Books, and iPads via its Self Service Repair Store. The refreshed Studio Display and Studio Display XDR macrumors.com now feature 128GB of internal storage, double the previous capacity. Vision Pro users received a reminder of airline policies appleinsider.com after a Delta flight attendant forced a passenger to remove the headset. In gaming, the flight simulator X-Plane 12 will support CloudXR in vision OS 26.4 appleinsider.com, and tests showed the MacBook Neo can handle various gaming workloads 9to5mac.com, from native Mac titles to Switch emulation. The popular menu bar utility Bartender for Mac is stable again 9to5mac.com after a buggy period. Finally, Apple launched a new Instagram account macrumors.com focused on its "Shot on iPhone" campaign.